Another Day, Another Prank
by Wind-in-the-Sage
Summary: In the von Trapp household, while Father is away, a new governess is in charge, and the kids have nothing to do but think, what else could possibly happen? Pre-canon.


Louisa ran lightly down the steps, not even looking at her feet as she ghosted through the foyer. She stopped behind a column and listened. It was still perfectly quiet in the house. She continued into the ballroom and crossed it quickly, her bare feet never giving her away. Kurt didn't even hear her coming. Gretl did. When she pulled the curtain back, Gretl smiled and wiggled her fingers at her. Louisa opened the door to the garden and Kurt jumped back, covering his mouth to keep a yelp of surprise from coming out.

"Louisa!" he hissed. "You scared me half to death!"

"Hurry," she told them. "Liesl's in place already!"

Kurt nodded and grabbed Gretl's hand, pulling her into the hedge maze. Now Louisa had to tell Friedrich. She hurried out of the ballroom and to the kitchen, nodding to Marta who was keeping watch at the top of the stairs on her way. When she made it, tiptoeing past Cook's room, she found Friedrich in the pantry. "Friedrich, are you ready?"

"Yes. Can I go out now?"

"Wait until Brigitta gives the signal."

"Okay."

Louisa went back to the foyer and gave Marta a thumbs up. Marta, looking over-cautious, carefully turned around and opened the door to Brigitta's room. Louisa was already hurrying out to the grounds, trying her best to muffle the click of the large glass doors snapping into place behind her. She didn't bother with the steps. She followed the edge of the house, jumping over the rail and into the grass below. Nothing but the crickets made a noise. She crept closer to the bushes and the side of the house their rooms were on, watching the windows. And then she heard more than just crickets. Two arguing voices that were doing a very bad job at whispering were coming from the maze.

"I can't go that fast!"

"Well you have to! Come on!"

"Kurt, stop pulling!"

Before Louisa could duck into the maze and tell them to be quiet, she saw a light turn on upstairs. It was from the governess's room. She only had time to loudly shush the bushes and hope they got the message so that she could fine a hiding place in time. There was a large stone flowerpot with an evergreen shrub in it. She placed it between herself and the window. The arguing stopped and she heard the hinges of the window creak.

"Hello? Is someone out there?"

Louisa was thinking furiously. She still had to get to Brigitta right next door. And if she could do that, hopefully her younger sister could think of a way to get around this new obstacle. After a few moments, the governess closed the windows, rather forcefully. She had seemed the sort to fright easily. The ones with imaginations too big were the easiest. Louisa peeked out from behind the bush. The curtains were closed. A minute later, the light turned off. As her father would say, the coast was clear.

She moved quickly to put her back against the heavy stone wall. She looked up once more, checking, then found the first chink in the stone that would bring her up to Brigitta's window. She put her fingers in the crack, lifted her feet off the ground, and dug her toes into the mortar wearing away between blocks. After the first few feet, the ornamentation and sills gave enough handholds that she was in Brigitta's room in just under a minute. She saw the door to the hallway cracked ajar.

"Brigitta!" she hissed. The door closed and she heard feet approaching in the darkness.

"What happened?" asked Brigitta. "Marta's not in the hall."

"She must have hid. Kurt and Gretl woke the governess. Has she come out of her room?"

"No."

"What do we do?"

"I'll just give the signal now, before she investiages. You hide Marta where she can see the governess's door. I'll signal in one minute."

"Okay." She knew Brigitta would have a plan. She snuck into the hallway, looking for any sign of the governess, Marta, or any of the others giving away their positions too early. She peeked into the room next door first.

"Louisa?" she heard.

"Marta, it's still on. Quick. Hide where you can see the door. It can even be against the wall, okay? Wait for Brigitta's signal."

"Okay."

"Be ready to move the others."

"Okay, Louisa."

Louisa kissed the top of her head and left the room. She had to be ready to do just that as well. She chose her own hiding spot, tucked in a dark corner behind the columns, and waited for Brigitta.

Between this governess and the last, the children had had more free time than usual. Time to pick berries, time to try out some crafting, cross stitch, and wood carving, and time, of course, to plan a surprise for thier next governess. Friedrich had carved a whistle. Liesl had helped the smaller ones to make jam.

Said whistle was put to use now. A low, long note, whose point of origin was difficult to discern due to the quality of the sound, permeated the darkness. Before it was finished, Louisa heard a loud crash from the kitchen. It really was an impressive amount of sound for the size of the platter she had seen Friedrich with.

In response, there was a piercing scream. It echoed through the house's marble hall. A door slammed, and a hoarse yell of "What? What's going-" came from the floor above. Louisa smiled to herself. Then she heard a whisper next to her.

"Now?"

"No, wait."

Friedrich stayed still, and they watched the governess together as they heard a howling begin outdoors. She made a noise like chickens squabbling at the market and ran back into her room to look out the window.

"Now!" Louisa said. "Go the back way."

"Right." Friedrich nodded, and dashed to the stairs, taking the left staircase.

Louisa took the opportunity to run across the room, seeing in her periphery Liesl running back to her room. Louisa made it into the ballroom and hurried to the door, slipping outside and counting on the uneven walls to hide her from view from above. She could hear the governess stammering, absolutely at a loss for what to do, and, when Kurt's howling stopped, the sound of rustling bushes getting closer and closer to the house. Now it was her turn. As the rustling bushes got within sight, she called nervously, making sure her voice could be taken for any of the girls', "Governess? Governess! Help!"

A cry for help was one thing no governess could ignore. The windows banged as the governess ran from her room and towards the stairs. As soon as Kurt and Gretl peeked their heads around the corner, Louisa gestured them over. They crossed the courtyard.

"Where do we go?" Kurt asked, Gretl echoing the question.

"She'll probably go out the back door. Wait just inside the ballroom until she passes, then go upstairs. And don't leave Gretl behind!"

"I won't!" Kurt complained indignantly, opening the door and shooing Gretl in front of him.

"Be quiet," Louisa warned, but she wasn't sure Kurt heard her. They disappeared inside. She looked back up at the window. Brigitta's head was poking out. She waved her on. "Go ahead. I'll be there in a moment." Brigitta's head withdrew and Louisa prepared for her second climb that night.

When she reached the governess's window, she found Brigitta pushing their contraption out of it and having difficulty attaching it to the outside wall.

"Here," whispered Brigitta, opening her hand to give Louisa a wad of chewed gum. "Get the ones on the bottom."

Between the two of them, they attached the paper silhouette, reinforced with wooden dowels courtesy of Friedrich and Gretl, to the outside of the governess's window. Brigitta whispered, "I hope it works. Kurt assured us it would be scary enough. Do you have the torch and string?"

"Yes."

"Wait for me to get down."

Louisa made it down in record time and caught the ball of string and torch with ease. Brigitta disappeared. This last part was all Louisa's responsibility. She hid herself halfway behind one of the bushes, and waited for the light Brigitta had turned off on her way into the children's room to be turned on and back off again.

She hardly had to wait at all. The signal was given and she flipped the switch on the torch, illuminating the silhouette in the window and eliciting a gratifying scream. It all worked. Louisa tugged on the string, taking down the silhouette just as she turned the torch off. It floated down, seeming to take ages. She had to get back to the room quickly. When it landed, scraping across the stone, she gathered up the paper, string and torch, and climbed up the wall to her room.

The prank was over. Louisa hid the remnants in her closet just in time for Kurt and Marta to run in.

"That was perfect!" giggled Kurt.

"What are you doing in here?" scolded Louisa. "What if someone checks our rooms?"

"They won't! The governess ran out the front door and Cook's chasing her! Come see!" Kurt grabbed her hand and Marta's and they all ran to the end of the hall, where Liesl was already giving Gretl a boost to see out the window. Indeed, they could just see the fleeing form of their new governess, wasting no time in vacating the terrifying, haunted house. Louisa heard more footsteps over the collective giggling as Friedrich and Brigitta joined them.

"What happened?"

Putting Gretl down, Liesl said, "She was so frightened, she ran straight for the gates!"

"I told you it would work!" said Kurt proudly. Outside of the window, they could see the governess trying to open the locked front gates with pure force and Cook trying to calm her and talk her into at least staying until the Captain came back. A light wandered to the gates from the butler's small, separate quarters, and then the governess was begging him to open the gates. The children were rolling with laughter.

"This is our best one!"

"Father's going to be so angry!"

"I know!"

"Hurry, everyone! We have to be in bed when they come to investigate. No more laughing," Liesl instructed. She knew how to keep them from too much trouble. "We didn't hear a thing, okay?"

She got general agreement as everyone tumbled back to their rooms, giddy with success.


End file.
